Telecommunication Issues In Southwest Region Focusing On The City Of Busselton

Summary

1. In Busselton, Western Australia, there have been issues related to telecommunication black spots.
2. This has affected the businesses along with the employment rates in the City of Busselton.
3. Moreover, the lack of telecommunication infrastructure has resulted in poor mobile and network coverage as well as lower utilization of innovative technologies.
4. In this Ministerial Brief, the telecommunication problems of Busselton are focused. Based on this, recommendations in order to increase internet and mobile coverage have been suggested.

Background

Busselton is one of the cities in Western Australia that has experienced an unemployment rate of nearly 4%, as seen from a census report of the Time Series Census Profile of 2006 to 2016. It has been observed that the information and telecommunication industries. The City of Busselton has experienced changes in the field of employment compared to other sectors as of 2011. Moreover, in 2016, the city of Busselton experienced an increase in the employment rate of almost 35%^[1]. The local government, furthermore, has been able to increase the total labor force to 19,315 as of September 2017[2]. On the other hand, the rate of population has increased by almost 43% as of 2016, which includes the highest increase in the age group of 65 to 74 years. Moreover, the lowest growth has been observed in the age group of 20 to 24 years, which further indicates workforce mobility. This furthermore, indicates that the lifestyle of this city is appropriate for the retirees.

Another issue in the City of Busselton is related to separate houses that have increased up to 31% over a period of one year indicating increasing demand for separate houses. However, it has been found that with an increase in the number of separate houses, issues related to telecommunication have also increased^[3]. This further affects the business of the residents as often, internet connection remains out of service and can continue for two weeks. The City of Busselton has also experienced issues of unemployment and health that have impacted the telecommunication industry. In fact, it is presumed that 70% of financial counselors in the City of Busselton have mentioned that there are problems with internet and phone services, and this has increased over the last two years. Along with this, it has also been found that complaints regarding internet services have increased to almost 50% as of 2016. Moreover, the extensive economic base of Busselton focuses on the fields of tourism, agriculture, and mining, along with manufacturing industries[4].

Consideration

Pros

In order to deal with internet connection dropout in the entire city, the local government of Busselton has adopted a review of commercial operations. Busselton is a city where tourist attractions are important. In addition, it is also the gateway to the Margaret River region. Therefore, niche market and tourist services must be made provision for. To achieve this, the City of Busselton has implemented new innovations in order to attract a huge volume of tourists^[5]. Along with this, the City has also developed economic diversification in order to promote the operation of mobile food premises. The Development Commission of the Southwest region of Western Australia has also adopted telecommunication needs assessment all across the city[6]. In addition to this, the growth of telecommunication sectors in Busselton has supported small business opportunities.

Cons

Problems associated with the facility of Wi-Fi are its limited coverage and access. Moreover, the residents who are facing problems of dropping their internet connection can still face problems with Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi connection, on the other hand, has security issues for which, this facility cannot be used by the residents while dealing with details of their businesses or banks. It has been held that 43.7 percent of the population has been holding a below proficiency level of literacy in Busselton. It has been noted that accessing of a decent education has been in a worse condition. Among them, only 78.7 percent of the Aboriginal students have achieved the benchmark of literacy. In remote areas of Busselton, only a quarter of students, aged up to five years, are able to meet the national minimum standards. This certainly brings to the lack of mobile network coverage, and also a lack of awareness, which further contributes to the issues of telecommunication[7]. Therefore, Government bodies need to take initiatives in this area to lower the extent of their telecommunication issues.

SWOT Implication

Impact

Economic diversification has to lead the city to develop projects in order to facilitate community activities along with businesses^[8]. Because of this, Telstra is now working by collaborating with the local government in order to establish the facility of Wi-Fi within the city. Economic diversification has helped to maintain the sustainable quality of the environment, which has attracted a huge number of tourists.

Recommendation

Advances in the field of telecommunication can help individuals communicate with their dear ones who do not live close by. However, for this emerging technology, a sufficient amount of investment is required. Issues related to the city of Busselton have indicated the requirement for an increase in mobile coverage along with the setting up of more sites for mobile towers. In order to improve the mobile coverage in Busselton, it is recommended:

• The residents, along with the business owners, must try to resolve their complaints with the Internet service provider.
• To use glass tumbler in areas that lack an internet connection
• This will allow the mobile to find signals.
• The City of Busselton must incorporate and install boosters on those which experience internet connection dropout as it will allow receiving of a good signal.
• Educational areas must be taken into concerns for improving the literacy rates in order to improve telecommunication issues.

Conclusion

From the above discussions, it can be concluded that Busselton has experienced telecommunication issues along with an increase in the unemployment rate over the years. Also, it has been found that for the last 2 years complaints regarding internet services have increased. This, on the other hand, has affected the economic growth of the city and also affected the delivery services. Moreover, the local government of Busselton has adopted a telecommunication needs assessment to improve internet coverage. Furthermore, it has been found that Telstra is working to establish Wi-Fi facilities within the city.  Along with this, it can also be recommended to use a glass tumbler as well as install boosters for improving the internet and mobile coverage in the concerned areas.

References

Alizadeh, T. (2015). The spatial justice implications of telecommunication infrastructure: The socio-economic status of early National Broadband Network rollout in
Bhatti, H. S., Abareshi, A., &Pittayachawan, S. (2016, July). An Empirical Examination of Customer Retention in Mobile Telecommunication Services in Australia. In ICE-B(pp. 72-77). Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Siddhi_Pittayachawan/publication/307879254_An_empirical_examination_of_customer_retention_in_mobile_telecommunication_services_in_Australia/links/57d87d9108ae0c0081ee0580/An-empirical-examination-of-customer-retention-in-mobile-telecommunication-services-in-Australia.pdf
wa.gov.au. (2018). About Planning. Retrieved on 12 December 2017 from https://www.busselton.wa.gov.au/Building-Planning/Planning-Services/About-Planning
abs.gov.au. (2018). 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved on 16 December 2017 from http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/UCL512002
Islam, M. Z., D’Alessandro, S., Furner, M., Johnson, L., Gray, D., & Carter, L. (2016). Brand switching pattern discovery by data mining techniques for the telecommunication industry in Australia. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 20. Retrieved from http://journal.acs.org.au/index.php/ajis/article/viewFile/1420/749
Tang, K., Hailu, A., Kragt, M. E., & Ma, C. (2016). Marginal abatement costs of greenhouse gas emissions: broadacre farming in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 60(3), 459-475. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kai_Tang22/publication/294138398_Marginal_abatement_costs_of_greenhouse_gas_emissions_broadacre_farming_in_the_Great_Southern_Region_of_Western_Australia/links/5a0b2b4aa6fdccc69eda088d/Marginal-abatement-costs-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions-broadacre-farming-in-the-Great-Southern-Region-of-Western-Australia.pdf

[1]Censusdata.abs.gov.au. (2018). 2016 Census Quick Stats. Retrieved on 16 December 2017 from http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/UCL512002

[2]Busselton.wa.gov.au. (2018). About Planning. Retrieved on 12 December 2017 from: https://www.busselton.wa.gov.au/Building-Planning/Planning-Services/About-Planning

[3]Alizadeh, T. (2015). The spatial justice implications of telecommunication infrastructure: The socio-economic status of early National Broadband Network rollout in Australia. International Journal of Critical Infrastructures, 11(3), 278-296. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tooran_Alizadeh/publication/281998548_The_spatial_justice_implications_of_telecommunication_infrastructure_The_socio-economic_status_of_early_National_Broadband_Network_rollout_in_Australia/links/56722f9b08ae3aa2fcee20f5/The-spatial-justice-implications-of-telecommunication-infrastructure-The-socio-economic-status-of-early-National-Broadband-Network-rollout-in-Australia.pdf

[4]Tang, K., Hailu, A., Kragt, M. E., & Ma, C. (2016). Marginal abatement costs of greenhouse gas emissions: broadacre farming in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 60(3), 459-475. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kai_Tang22/publication/294138398_Marginal_abatement_costs_of_greenhouse_gas_emissions_broadacre_farming_in_the_Great_Southern_Region_of_Western_Australia/links/5a0b2b4aa6fdccc69eda088d/Marginal-abatement-costs-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions-broadacre-farming-in-the-Great-Southern-Region-of-Western-Australia.pdf

[5]Bhatti, H. S., Abareshi, A., &Pittayachawan, S. (2016, July). An Empirical Examination of Customer Retention in Mobile Telecommunication Services in Australia. In ICE-B (pp. 72-77). Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Siddhi_Pittayachawan/publication/307879254_An_empirical_examination_of_customer_retention_in_mobile_telecommunication_services_in_Australia/links/57d87d9108ae0c0081ee0580/An-empirical-examination-of-customer-retention-in-mobile-telecommunication-services-in-Australia.pdf

[6]Busselton.wa.gov.au. (2018). About Planning. Retrieved on 12 December 2017 from: https://www.busselton.wa.gov.au/Building-Planning/Planning-Services/About-Planning

[7]Busselton.wa.gov.au. (2018). About Planning. Retrieved on 12 December 2017 from: https://www.busselton.wa.gov.au/Building-Planning/Planning-Services/About-Planning

[8]Islam, M. Z., D’Alessandro, S., Furner, M., Johnson, L., Gray, D., & Carter, L. (2016). Brand switching pattern discovery by data mining techniques for the telecommunication industry in Australia. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 20. Retrieved from: http://journal.acs.org.au/index.php/ajis/article/viewFile/1420/749